When the words were uttered by the seven visitors, the guards immediately disbanded and marched off.
Clyde, as always, led the group of guards. Once they were gone, the seven figures began introducing themselves one by one.
From Stephen's understanding, they were the Royal Counsel. The faces they bore now were different from those they had shown on the day Kayden was to be executed in the village square, but that hardly mattered to him.
Six of the figures wore the traditional cloak of the Royal Counsel—a pitch-black garment that swallowed every inch of their bodies. The moment they stepped forward as the Royal Counsel, all eyes shifted to the seventh figure who stood apart, distant from the others.
The lone figure's face remained lowered, as though awaiting judgment from the Crown Prince and Gerald. Gerald, still bent from Stephen's earlier verbal thrashing, lifted his head with a dubious smile when he caught sight of this seventh figure.
